A community radio station has been found to have breached broadcasting legislation over a radio programme concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The Gaza-based Islamist group Hamas and president Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) have agreed to a unity pact, both sides announced in a joint news conference yesterday.

Gary Spedding of Queen’s University Students’ Union (Letters, Oct 31) brands those facts that contradict his argument as Israeli government ‘propaganda’.

I see that the World Bank is again blaming Israel for hampering the development of the Palestinian West Bank economy by holding on to 61% of mostly empty West Bank territory.

The supreme leader of the Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas is to step down, clearing the way for the movement to choose a new head for the first time in more than 15 years, senior officials said.

Israeli aircraft and ground forces struck Gaza today, killing three Hamas militants and three civilians in a surge of fighting sparked by a Palestinian rocket attack on an Israeli school bus the day before.

CELEBRITIES can now post online corrections to what they consider misinformation and slurs about their character.

The Palestinians are ready to end all historic claims against Israel once they establish their state in the lands occupied in the 1967 Six-Day War, President Mahmoud Abbas said.

The Palestinians will study alternatives to peace talks with Israel in the coming days, a top PLO official said , after the Jewish state gave the green light to build 238 new houses on war-won land.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has sought the backing of dozens of senior Palestinians to pull out of the Middle East peace talks.

Israel’s prime minister has demanded that any future Palestinian state be demilitarised and recognise Israel as the Jewish homeland, as he set out his starting position for new Middle East peace talks this week.

A SCEPTICAL Palestinian leadership agreed yesterday to hold US-mediated peace talks with Israel for four months, effectively ending a 14-month breakdown in communications between the two sides.

I wish to comment on the feature article written by Queen Noor of Jordan (January 5).

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticised Israeli settlement activity in exceptionally harsh language yesterday, saying new construction projects on disputed land has a “negative effect” on Mideast peace talks.

CONFESSION is good for the soul so, hands up, I was wrong last week. Like everyone else, I expected Barack Obama to win New Hampshire.

The Palestinians are ready to yield parts of the West Bank to Israel if compensated with an equal amount of Israeli territory, according to the lead Palestinian negotiator.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today endorsed the idea of early elections, deepening animosities with Hamas following the Islamic militant group’s violent takeover of the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, appearing energised in his bitter battle with the Islamic Hamas, considered calling a new West Bank election to solidify his standing.

Beleaguered Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is considering calling presidential and legislative elections to strengthen his position, a top aide said today.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas lashed out at the Islamic militants of Hamas, accusing them of trying to build an “empire of darkness” in the Gaza Strip and pledging he would not negotiate with the “murderous terrorists”.

THE internal fighting between Palestinian factions in Gaza is the latest stumbling block to attempts to secure a peace that has been elusive since the formation of the state of Israel.

The new Hamas-Fatah coalition was to set to clear a final formal hurdle today, approval by the parliament, before taking on the challenge of persuading a sceptical world to end a crippling year-long boycott of the Palestinian government.

Israeli and US leaders have agreed ahead of a three-way meeting with the Palestinians not to deal with a new Palestinian government that does not denounce violence, recognise Israel and accept peace agreements, an Israeli official said today.

Rival Palestinian delegations met in the dark hours of the morning as they prepared for crucial talks in the Saudi holy city Macca today on ending their bloody street battles and resuming the peace process with Israel.

Saudi Arabia brought the two main Palestinian leaders to Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, today for a last-ditch attempt to end their bloody conflict and complete a power-sharing agreement on a coalition government.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will finalise an agreement to share power with Hamas in meetings this week in Saudi Arabia, a senior Fatah official said today.

Hamas and Fatah gunmen fought in Gaza City’s beachfront neighbourhoods and around security compounds this morning, ignoring renewed truce appeals and Arab mediation efforts.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has called for an early election to end his violent clash with Hamas, in a gamble that banks on the support of Palestinians as he seeks to weaken the Islamic militants, avoid civil war and continue peace overtures with Israel.

Israelis and Palestinians tonight threatened to scrap a truce that has largely ended five months of Gaza violence, with Palestinian militants insisting it must also apply to the West Bank and Israeli leaders complaining that Gaza rocket squads are still active.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas told the PLO’s top decision-making body today that unity government talks with Hamas were dead and he blamed the radical Islamic group for their collapse, participants in the meeting said.

The rival Hamas and Fatah parties have frozen talks on forming a Palestinian unity government, Fatah officials said – a new setback in efforts to form a more moderate coalition acceptable to the West.

President Mahmoud Abbas’ efforts to set up a Palestinian government acceptable to the West suffered a new setback when the prime minister from the Islamic militant Hamas group said he would not lead a coalition that recognised Israel.

President Mahmoud Abbas’ bumpy efforts to set up a Palestinian government acceptable to the West suffered a new setback today, after the prime minister from the Islamic militant group Hamas said he would not lead a coalition that recognises Israel.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas told the United Nations today that the planned national unity government would recognise Israel.

WHAT the recent letters to your paper defending Israel have in common is an obsession with effects and a refusal to deal with causes.

Thousands of unpaid teachers have begun the Palestinian school year with a strike that shut down classrooms across the West Bank and Gaza – a backlash that is testing the beleaguered Hamas-led government’s ability to survive.

OTHER developments yesterday in the Middle East crisis

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas put off an ultimatum to Hamas to accept a document that implies recognition of Israel, but he insisted that the Islamic militants, who head the Palestinian government, must accept the plan with no changes or face a referendum.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas today called for Israel to return to the negotiating table during a speech marking the anniversary of what the Palestinians consider to be the “catastrophe” of Israel’s creation.

Speaking minutes after the announcement of exit polls in the Israeli election, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) said it was ready to negotiate immediately with the next Israeli government on the implementation of the roadmap peace plan.

The militant Islamic Hamas today moved a step closer to taking control of the Palestinian government, calling a special session of parliament to approve its new Cabinet, sweeping aside objections from the Palestinian president over its refusal to recognise Israel.

Hamas says it has completed the formation of its government without bring in moderate parties, a step that looked likely to only increase the chances of international isolation.

Six Palestinian militants holed up inside a West Bank prison in Jerico surrendered to Israeli forces today, almost 10 hours after Israeli troops laid siege to the compound.

Palestinian gunmen today broke into the offices of the German television network ARD in Gaza City, a Palestinian journalist working for the network said.